The Volvo has received a lot of attention in Per’s garage over the last month. We ripped apart both the front and rear suspension for a complete rebuild. The front suspension received new bushings, balljoints and tie rods, while the rear suspension was also given a new dose of rubber and poly bushings.
Shock choices for this old Volvo are somewhat limited. Bilstein and Koni are the only two companies that make quality shocks for these cars. We experimented around and found that the Konis, due to their adjustability, were better suited for our project. We could soften the rear so that it wasn’t as harsh as it was on the Bilsteins.
The rear axle was replaced with a later P1800ES unit. Before it was installed, we had new bearings and a rebuilt Dana Power Lock clutch-type limited slip installed. This rear axle gave us disc brakes and stronger halfshafts, not to mention a 4.30:1 ratio (originally a 4.10:1)
The stock 15x4 steel wheels were replaced with 15x6 Panasports from Kspeed. We are currently investigating several different tire types for this project. We are looking for a tire that can handle day to day traffic and occasional autocross and track event action. As D.O.T. racing tire technology advances, the available tires that can handle a morning commute shrinks.
With it all back together, we put it on the dyno, and were very pleased with a 101 hp baseline, which improved to 103.3 with the addition of the TWM velocity stacks. This is with a stock ignition (points, condensor,distributor timing) and an ancient mechanical fuel pump. We are going to start fine-tuning and see what we get from there. We’ve been told that the B20 motors tend to like 40+ degrees of total advance—we’ll see!
We’ve also ordered a Swedish tri-y header as the IPD unit is interfering with the right side upper a-arm, now that we’ve dialed in some negative camber (approximately 2 degrees).
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